Gas turbine engines, such as those utilized on commercial and military aircraft, include a compressor section that draws in air, a combustor section that mixes the compressed air with a fuel, and ignites the mixture, and a turbine section across which the results of the combustion are expanded. The expansion across the turbine section drives the turbine section to rotate, which in turn drives rotation of the compressor.
In some example engines, this configuration results in excess heat at the aft stages of the compressor section and in the turbine section. In order to prevent the excess heat from damaging engine components, or reducing the lifecycle of engine components, portions of the compressor section and the turbine section are actively cooled using cooled cooling air.